


falling again, strangers again

by Arcadiabee



Category: Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Deckerstar - Freeform, F/M, One Shot, i just like angst im sorry, journalist/reporter lucifer, soilder chloe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 00:55:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadiabee/pseuds/Arcadiabee
Summary: the barn scene in Edge of tomorrow but make it deckerstar.





	falling again, strangers again

**Author's Note:**

> this is a super-indulgent rewrite of that one scene in the barn in Edge of tomorrow but deckerstar, wish I did more world-building but im more trying to capture the feelings at that moment, would love constructive criticism, esp from ppl who have seen eot, this is my first fic so it would be greatly appreciated.

There are certain rules Chloe knows about the resets, one: after consuming or being exposed to the blood of an alpha you can reset time.  
two: this can only happen when you die, and you will always with no exceptions be taken back 24 hours before your original exposure to said alpha blood.  
three: the average life span of a soldier on any given day is between 24 to 39 hrs.   
four: no one will believe you, and if they do they will hurt you, everyone except dr Lopez.   
five: the only way to be free of this power is to have a full blood transfusion.  
Chloe learned this the hard way, in a military hospital in Verdun on a reset that left her a hero and alone, the wrong reset. She always let them die because she could come back and save them next time, but now they were gone for good. angel of Verdun they called her, the first day on duty and she killed 200 mimics and 1 alpha as if she knew exactly what would happen. the poster child for the war effort. 2 years later and the passage of time haunted her. then she met him.

Reset number: unknown

Eventually, the minivan runs out of gas. It's in the middle of nowhere, with miles of road ahead and behind them, they begin to walk ahead in the direction of the mountain range where the omega is supposedly hiding. Chloe finally begins to notice how much pain shes in with the adrenaline finally burning out of her system, there's a deep laceration on her shoulder and back and her mech suit is low on battery making in heavy. Blood makes her shirt stick to her back and she is all around uncomfortable.

A little ahead of her Lucifer walks in silence, he's uninjured besides the general bruising and cuts that come from battle, but it's clear he's reset enough times to avoid injury. Chloe watches him, she's only met him 12 hrs ago but, and she's torn when it comes to trusting him. besides the general mistrust, she has of everyone she meets beside Ella, his story seems to have parts missing, he knew enough about Ella and Chloe to convince them that he could reset the day, same way Chloe once could but he claimed to be a p.r strategist, which didn't make sense to Chloe, if it was true, what was he doing on the front lines?

Then there was his hesitance to answer how many resets he's on, avoiding it with flirtation and charm that had Ella swooning. despite all that he had helped her stay alive up till now, had done nothing to convince her of an ulterior motive. Looking at him now, it was probably the first time he's made it this far from the battlefield. He doesn't have the same look of certainty on his face anymore. it feels comforting in a way knowing they are equally lost.

Finally, the mech suits run out of battery too, and they leave them behind, free of the weight of them is a relief. but now they exposed to mimics. Armed with only a handgun with 3 bullets, Chloe is tempted to shoot Lucifer and get herself out of her misery but she knows he needs to make the best of each day. 

"Captain" Lucifer voice startles Chloe out of her haze of pain, she looks up and sees he's pointing a something in the distance. a farmhouse.  
she nods "we might find a car, hopefully, a " he snorts at her,   
"or better, some food and some bandages" he quips nodding in at her bloody back.   
"We don't have time for food Lucifer"  
"You would not believe how long its been since I've eaten" Lucifer pouts playfully  
she smiles at him "yea, how long?"  
he thinks about it a moment "140 resets ago" he smiles as he says it, but her heart drops and momentarily she wants to hug him.   
"Okay, food if you can find it" his smarmy grin makes her want to take it back.

they walk the rest of the way in silence until they see something sitting in front of the farmhouse, something 100 times better than a car.  
"is that a fucking helicopter?" Chloe exclaims, giddy. it looks military issued and relatively undamaged.  
"why, I think it is, must be our lucky day captain" Lucifer runs past her and looks inside, "no keys but it got some gas, with our luck the keys might be inside" he smiles again, its charming and comforting, dark eyes shining like stars and Chloe realizes that shes has seen him on t.v. in military uniform and loose curls he's a far cry from crisp suits and impeccable hair.

"so you weren't lying them"  
"about what?" he says looking alarmed and suddenly nervous.  
"about not being a soldier, you are the British media strategist? what the hell are you doing on the front?" Lucifer mutters something under his breath about mistrustful Americans that amused her a little.  
"How did someone name Lucifer get on national television?" she asks   
"use my middle name Samael, but I much prefer Lucifer" Chloe can't help think he's crazy "liar"

"first of all captain, I don't like lying, ever" he begins to walk towards as he talks and Chloe follows  
"part of the reason I'm here actually" he frowns to himself then looks at her "found out that the Normandy battle today was a suicide mission, you saw it yourself" Chloe nodded, within minutes she had watched her entire team die, if it hadn't been for the fact Lucifer knew was going to happen she'd be dead too. now miles away from the attack and mimics were probably reaching the civilian territory.

"I was meant to do news coverage on it. After the fact of how it was a huge loss, despite the fact that all my superiors knew what would happen. they also overlook underage recruits, apparently kids as young as 14, so I may have.... threatened some of them" he looks far from guilty about it, his smile reaching his ears.

Chloe chuckles but it's hollow and angry, they had sent her and hundreds of kids to their deaths. despite everything she had done, despite what they had promised her.  
"so they sent me here as a deserter and they knew I'd die in battle with everyone else so I had no dirt on them" he finished nonchalantly  
"You got a lot more than you bargained for huh?" she smirks

"I always wanted to interview you, you know?" Lucifer trilled suddenly training his laser vision on her with a cat-like smile.  
The house was a generously sized and looked like it could have once been homely if not for the air of abandonment and rot it carried.  
Chloe kicked down the door, the wood was rotten enough that it didn't take to much effort  
"oh and why is that?" she asked sarcastically stepping inside cautiously.  
"come now your the angel of Verdun!" he preened cheerily, she snorts  
"must be quite the story, the ex-actress turned detective turned war hero, huh?" she tries to keep the annoyance out of her voice "I don't mind being a poster child to the war effort but I'd rather not do interviews" she couldn't imagine her mother delight, but part of her wishes she did do an interview, at least Trixie could see her, even for a few minutes.

"well it helps that your ridiculously attractive, Captain Chloe Sarah Decker, helps with getting recruits"  
she turns to him, confused and blushing to stop in the hallway "that's not my middle name"   
He looks surprised "really? you told me it was"  
she smiles, amused with her past self "must've lied to you"   
the house is dark and has a damp smell to it, but besides that, it is completely untouched, as if someone is about to come home any minute, the family must have left in a hurry she thinks, she hopes.

"you wear eyeliner on tv" she mumbles looking at children's drawings on the fridge, trying to change the subject.  
"I wear it every day" he retorts "unfortunately when the sent me here they took my favourite Charlotte Tilbury Kohl liner and my Armani suit" he sounds so genuinely annoyed by this that she can't help but laughs, a genuine one, which startles Lucifer so much he drops the cup he was examining, they stare at each other for a moment too long, he looks slightly of kilter now as if he's expecting her to blow up.

"Okay, go look for the keys and some medical stuff and then food," Chloe says hurriedly   
"there might be some extra gas in the barn" Lucifer mutters reluctantly stepping over the broken cup and heading out.  
she stares at his back and suddenly feels like an idiot, she's only known him a few hours and feels ...vulnerable around him, of course, she shouldn't.

He knows exactly what to say she thinks bitterly, she remembers that day on Verdun having the same conversation over and over and over again knowing exactly what to say and when, how charismatic and sweet she must have seemed to the people who had only just met her. But Chloe's guarded, she knows herself well enough to know that she isn't sharing too many details of her life to him that no matter what version of herself it is, things like Trixie and Verdun are too precious. She wants to save him the annoyance and heartbreak of getting to know a stranger to well.

she tries looking for the keys but the pain in her back and shoulder is too much and she sits on the kitchen stool.  
Lucifer returns with a medical kit and a biscuit tin that reveals a sewing kit and starts to patch up Chloe stitching her up. He works quietly, making quick work of it and soon if off raiding the kitchen.  
"We need to find the keys," Chloe reminds Lucifer, he hums in agreement.

"you've never flown a helicopter though, nasty death contraptions," he pulls out an old kettle.  
"Who told you that?"  
"You did"  
"oh" she responds, he laughs a bit and she frowns at him reproachfully  
"so? you fly it, have a practice and next time you're here we can use it."  
"that could take 100's of resets to get right" he argues "there's a pickup outside, let's siphon the gas and use that instead"  
"afraid of flying?"  
"afraid of falling, not ashamed to admit it' he says firmly fiddling with the stove, the gas, surprisingly, works, and he puts some water on. 

"Are you seriously making tea right now? we need that helicopter running!" her irritation has returned but he seems unfazed.  
"well..." he muses "scotch or any alcholol would have been my first choice, but seeing as these poor saps don't have any, or grabbed it all when they left, either way, I'm dying for a drink"

she sighs, she wants to keep moving but she gives him these moments, moments of normality in this constant loop.' she feels guilty for snapping, but she's on edge and in pain.  
"if its all the same to you after you've had your tea and biscuits and found the keys, I think I'm going to shoot you and reset" Lucifer sighs dramatically.  
"how about we stay the night, look so more supplies then fly out tomorrow?"  
"and what curl up by the fire and share stories?" he gives her puppy dog eyes and a look that say 'why not?' and she finds her self giggling.

Lucifer hands her a cup of tea "bad idea I know, but I'm allowed to dream" he says winking as she takes it and sips, indulging in the warmth for a moment   
"its no single malt latte but it'll do I guess" he says his back turned to her and Chloe feels her stomach drop, she watches him as he flits around the kitchen a familiarity that makes her nervous. He knows her coffee order and his way around the kitchen too well.

"where are the keys?" she says carefully, standing up  
"wha-" Lucifer can't even finish as Chloe stalks up to him, seething  
"where are the fucking keys Lucifer"  
he sighs resigned and frustrated and pulls them from his back pocket, she snatches it from his hand and shakes it in his face  
"You can fly it can't you?" she's scathing now   
"well-"  
then what are we doing here?" she turns to the door he chases after her  
"I can take off but landing is still- captain, oh come on just listen"  
she doesn't look back at him throwing the door open  
"You lied"  
"I didn't, I hid the truth-"  
"same thing" behind her he stops moving and calls out again.

"Chloe this is as far as you make it"

she stops and turns to him "what?"  
"this" his voice is soft and broken and she sees a look in his eye that she recognizes; raw desperation  
"This is as far as you make it, I cant save you"

"how many times have we been here?" her voice is steady and cold and it doesn't betray anything  
"too many"  
she stares at him a moment longer and keeps walking to the helicopter taking off the tarp and ropes 

"Chloe stop"  
"I'm a soldier Morningstar" she snaps "I'm not walking away, I don't have a choice and neither do you"

"you don't think I know that!" his yell startles her and she stops looking at him.

He's a slightly more broken man then he must have been yesterday, how many months, maybe years ago that must have been for him.  
"I-" his voice breaks and he looks past her "I spent my whole life trying to have some sort of free will some sort of choice, but in the end I'm stuck here forced to make the same decisions over and over again I'm trapped here and I keep watching you die, I keep failing you, I cant choose to save you"

She looks at him sympathetically, her heart aches for him but Verdun changed her, she knows she can outrun death. Despite his protest she keeps unwinding the ropes, he makes a frustrated growl.  
"I just want you to see you daughter again" Chloe whirls around  
"what, how did you-"  
"You told me," he says she walks over to him getting in his space  
"no. I. didn't " her words are clipped, he can't even look at her. Staring over her shoulder at the setting horizon  
he says nothing, and suddenly his previous words grip her 

how many times have we been here?  
too many

too many, oh god they've been here too many times and he has tried everything, everything to save her and she sees it in his eyes. and her heart finally breaks.  
this stranger is already in love with her, she wants her to see Trixie again, she won't see Trixie again. he loves her and she has no idea who he is.

"then don't" her voice shakes, between rage and grief "don't save me, you can do it without me"  
He has tears in his eyes too and he grabs hold of her hands pulling her away from the helicopter "I've been here too long, I don't know how to let you go" she looks at his hand and sees a tan line where a ring might have been once. she brushes her thumb over it gently. She wonders how many versions of her fell for him. if this is one of them.

"I only met you today" she laughs the words wet and wobbly, he holds her hands tighter "I wish I knew you"

"I wish I didn't" he whisper "but I do" she stares at his hands a moment longer, makes her mind up pulling away and getting into the chopper  
"Chloe don't" he yells but her mind is made

The chopper doesn't make it very far, it never does, Lucifer thinks, its barley above the tree line when a mimic hears the noise and attacks, its huge and fast and wraps its arms around it damaging the blades.

Lucifer on the ground watches helplessly as the mimic attacks and as the chopper turns erratically like two wasps fighting mid-air, it throws the mimic off slamming into the barn and destroying a huge portion of the house.

The chopper flies in the opposite direction crashing into the fields a couple of yards away. He runs after it Chloe's body crumpled a few meters from the wreckage.

He lays a next to her ignoring the blood.  
her breath his laboured but she reaches out and holds his face in her hand  
"you were right about the chopper I guess" her voice is low and soft, already floating off. She isn't in pain at least, he thinks.  
"I never even got a sip of my tea" he tries to sound irritated but his voice wobbles

she looks at him. The blue sky trapped in her eyes, different to his, dark ones, full of stars, stars that had already chosen their fate but her sky blue eyes had no stars. Just vast planes of opportunities neither of them could have, trapped between them.

"don't save me, kill the omega, live tomorrow " he doesn't argue, just holds her  
"Lucifer" she whispers, he hums in reply  
"My middle name is Jane" Lucifer smiles at her. even now he gets to learn new things about her.  
In the corner, he can see the mimic approach, but neither of them moves.

When Lucifer awakes again 20 hrs earlier he doesn't look for Captain Decker or Dr Lopez, he hijacks a mech suit and leaves.


End file.
